Ben Gvir threatens to stop supporting coalition legislation without passing a law to execute Palestinian prisoners

SadaNews - Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir threatened during his party's bloc meeting in the Knesset on Monday that if a bill imposing the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners is not proposed within three weeks, his fascist party "Otzma Yehudit" will no longer commit to voting on coalition bills, until the law is put up for a vote.

According to Ben Gvir, the coalition agreement between his party and the Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stipulates that a death penalty law should be enacted during the current Knesset term, and that Likud refrained from enacting such a law before the war on Gaza.

He added that after the outbreak of war, "they found a new excuse that the law cannot be advanced for fear of harming the hostages" and considered that passing the law would constitute a "great pressure lever on Hamas as part of Israel's toolbox in the war. The basket of excuses has ended now after the return of all our living hostages."

He continued, "Hamas killed two soldiers yesterday in Rafah during the 'ceasefire.' I heard remarks such as 'we will make Hamas pay dearly' and 'we will strike Hamas hard,' but these are statements similar to those made before the war. We are not in another round of fighting but in a war of rebirth, as the Prime Minister correctly described it. The central goal of the war is the annihilation of Hamas, not just exacting a price from them. I call on the Prime Minister: It's time for reason and time to return to fierce fighting with full force, to occupy and strike until this goal is achieved."

Justice Minister Yariv Levin stated, "With the start of the winter session of the Knesset (today), I call on all coalition members to put aside disagreements and work together to complete legislation for a number of important bills that should have been passed in the previous Knesset session, such as the law defining the judicial bodies in the Supreme Court, the legislation related to the legal advice for the government, and the important law to remove the investigation division of police officers from the public prosecution."

It is noted that the bill to separate the position of legal advisor to the government into two positions, namely the legal advisor and the attorney general, will be the first bill the government presents in the winter Knesset session, aiming to annul Netanyahu's trial, and it will be put to the Knesset general body the day after tomorrow.

For his part, opposition leader Yair Lapid, during a meeting of his party's bloc "Yesh Atid" in the Knesset, stated that "Netanyahu has turned us into a dependent state receiving impositions regarding its security," and that "the only way to prevent Hamas from regaining control of Gaza is by bringing in Egypt and a political solution. Instead of Egypt, they brought in Qatar and Turkey, which are the ideological sisters of the Muslim Brotherhood."

According to the head of the "Yisrael Beiteinu" party, Avigdor Lieberman, the "winter session of the Knesset will be very stormy." He added during a meeting of his party's bloc that "there are no limits to triviality. When an anti-tank missile was fired at 10:30 (yesterday), Netanyahu had already learned that our soldiers were killed and wounded, yet he conducted deliberations about changing the name of the war to 'the War of Rebirth.' This is Netanyahu's legacy, the war of October 7, the escape from responsibility, containment, Qatari money. In the next government, we will form an official committee of inquiry to investigate everyone."